Find your best shots inside Google Photos. No export, no Lightroom.
Finding the shots worth keeping is what photographers call photo culling. Batch's Best Shots reviews an album inside Google Photos, groups similar and near-duplicate photos, flags blur and closed eyes, and saves your keepers to a new album. You can move the rest to Google Photos Trash when you choose. The analysis runs on your device, and the review is free. Here is how it compares with Aftershoot, Narrative Select, Lightroom and Photo Mechanic.
Saving the album is part of Plus, $6.99 a month or $55 a year.
A fraction of the price
Batch Plus is $55 a year. The least expensive desktop culling plan is about $120, and Lightroom is $144 before you add a culling tool. The Best Shots review itself is free.
No export, no second program
Best Shots runs inside Google Photos in Chrome, on the photos already there. Nothing to export, import or catalog. Your keepers become a Google Photos album.
Your photos are never uploaded anywhere new
Batch has no server. The analysis runs on your device, in your browser, and the only thing that leaves it is an anonymous count. Your photos stay in Google Photos.
Built for photos already in Google Photos
Family trips, kids' sports, small businesses, the thousand-photo vacation. Desktop culling tools are built around files on a computer. Best Shots is built around the library that is already backed up to Google Photos.
Where your photos travel
With Batch
stays putNothing is downloaded, uploaded or stored anywhere else. Batch has no server.
With a desktop culling tool
round tripBuilt for files on a computer. Your library makes a round trip, and the edits live in a catalog you keep paying for.
With Lightroom
second cloudA second cloud to sort the first one. Picking keepers is manual.
Google Photos culling tools compared
- Yes or automatic
- Partly, see note
- No or manual
| Feature | Google Photos + Batch | Aftershoot | Narrative Select | Lightroom | Photo Mechanic | Google Photos alone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs inside Google Photos | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| No exporting or importing your library | Yes | NoRequires export | NoRequires export | NoRequires import | NoRequires export | Yes |
| Finds the best of similar shots | AutomaticAutomatic, on device | AutomaticAutomatic | AutomaticAutomatic | ManualFlags and stars, by hand | ManualBy hand, very fast | PartlyPhoto Stacks, phone app: one top pick per stack |
| Flags blur and closed eyes | AutomaticAutomatic | AutomaticAutomatic | AutomaticAutomatic | ManualBy eye | ManualBy eye | No |
| Bulk edits many photos at once | YesHundreds at once | PartlyEdit plan, $30 a month | No | YesSync settings across photos | No | NoOne photo at a time |
| Built for photos already in Google Photos | Yes | NoFile-based | NoFile-based | PartlyMobile app, own cloud | NoFile-based | Yes |
| Works with RAW files | NoUses Google's preview | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | PartlyViews them |
| Learns your taste | No | PartlyEditing profiles | NoNot verified | No | No | No |
| Least expensive relevant plan, a year, USD | $55 | $120 | $120 | $144 | $149 | Free |
Photo culling software pricing compared
Each product's least expensive plan that includes culling, a year in USD, billed annually.
- Google Photos + Batch · Plus$55
- Aftershoot · Select$120
- Narrative Select · Lite$120
- Lightroom · Lightroom plan$144
- Photo Mechanic · Subscription$149
List prices on each vendor's site, checked September 15, 2026. Narrative Select's price was on a 30% promotion that day ($15 a month list). Photo Mechanic also sells a $299 perpetual license. Google Photos itself is free; storage plans are separate. Batch shows local prices abroad.
Built for photos already in Google Photos
Family trips.
Come home with keepers, not a backlog.
Kids' sports.
The best shots of every game, in one album.
Small business.
Product and listing photos, sorted and edited together.
The thousand-photo vacation.
Sorted before the jet lag ends.
How Best Shots finds your best photos in Google Photos
- 1
Open an album.
In Google Photos, in Chrome. Any album, or a selection of photos.
- 2
Press Best Shots.
The review ranks the album, groups similar shots and flags the ones to set aside. You adjust anything.
- 3
Save the keepers.
One press makes a new Google Photos album. It is on your phone right away.
Aftershoot alternative for Google Photos
Keep it if
You shoot RAW for clients and finish in Lightroom.
Try Best Shots if
Your photos already live in Google Photos and came from a phone.
Aftershoot is very good at what it is for: a wedding or a portrait session, thousands of RAW frames, culled on your computer and handed to Lightroom or Capture One, or simply flagged in the files. Select is $10 a month on an annual plan; the full bundle with editing and retouching is $45.
If your photos live in Google Photos and most of them came from a phone, that workflow means downloading your library to run a desktop app over it, then getting the result back. Best Shots does the sort where the photos already are, and hands you a Google Photos album.
Narrative Select alternative for Google Photos
Keep it if
Your photos are files on a computer, headed to Lightroom or Capture One.
Try Best Shots if
You want the sort to happen where the photos already are.
Narrative Select is a desktop culling app for working photographers: fast RAW previews, focus and closed-eye checks, and a hand-off to Lightroom, Photoshop or Capture One. Plans run from $10 to $79 a month, with the entry Lite plan on a promotion at the time of checking ($15 list).
It expects your photos to be files on a computer. Best Shots expects them to be in Google Photos, which is where a family's photos usually are, and it never asks you to move them.
Batch vs Lightroom for photo culling
Keep it if
You want a full editor and a catalog, and do not mind flagging by hand.
Try Best Shots if
You only need the keepers picked and the album made, without a second cloud.
Lightroom is an editor and a catalog, not a culling tool. Picking keepers is manual: flags, stars and colour labels, one photo at a time. The Lightroom plan is $11.99 a month and includes Lightroom, which syncs to Adobe's cloud with 1 TB, and Lightroom Classic, which keeps your files on your computer.
Either way, a library that lives in Google Photos has to be imported first. Batch does the ranking and the bulk edit inside the tab you already have open.
Batch vs Photo Mechanic
Keep it if
You are a working pro who wants to make every call yourself, fast.
Try Best Shots if
You want a first pass done for you, with the final say still yours.
Photo Mechanic is the news photographer's tool: the fastest way to flick through a card and tag by hand, $149 a year or $299 once. There is no AI in it. Every keeper is a decision you make yourself, which is exactly what its users want.
Best Shots makes the first pass for you and leaves the final call to you, on a library that never left Google Photos.
Batch vs Google Photos alone
Keep it if
A burst or two now and then. Photo Stacks handles it.
Try Best Shots if
A whole trip or season to sort, and edits to apply to all of it at once.
Google Photos already does one piece of this. On the phone app, Photo Stacks groups near-identical shots and picks a top pick for each stack, with a Keep this, delete rest option. It is a good way to tidy a burst.
It does not rank an album or an event, it does not flag blur or closed eyes across a trip, and editing is still one photo at a time. Batch adds the review and the bulk edit in the same place, with the same Trash-first safety.
When a desktop culling tool is a better fit
If you shoot RAW, deliver to clients, and live in Lightroom or Capture One, keep Aftershoot, Narrative Select or Photo Mechanic. They are built for that, and Best Shots is not. Batch is for the other library: the one on your phone, backed up to Google Photos, with a thousand photos from the trip and no time to sort them.
What Batch Best Shots does not do
- Photos only. Videos in an album are skipped.
- Not a RAW tool. It scores the preview Google Photos serves and never opens the original file. There is no Lightroom export; the result is an album.
- Chrome on a computer. There is no phone app.
- One album, one selection of two or more photos, or one People, Places or Things search at a time, up to 1,000 photos per run.
- The first run downloads one model file of about 60 MB, once, so the review can run in your browser.
- It does not learn your taste. You can move any photo in or out, and the stars are yours.
- Keep these, delete rest moves the photos it did not pick to Google Photos Trash, where they can be restored.
The full comparison, with sources
| Detail | Google Photos + Batch | Aftershoot | Narrative Select | Lightroom | Photo Mechanic | Google Photos alone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Made for | Culling and bulk editing the photos already in Google Photos | Pro shoots, culled and edited before Lightroom or Capture One | Pro culling before editing | Editing and organizing a catalog | Manual culling and captioning for working pros | Storing and viewing your photos |
| Runs where | In Chrome, on your computer | Desktop app for Mac and Windows | Desktop app for Mac and Windows | Desktop, mobile and web; Lightroom Classic is desktop only | Desktop app for Mac and Windows | Google's cloud, phone and web apps |
| Your photos | Stay in Google Photos; analysis runs in your browser | On your computer | On your computer | Lightroom syncs to Adobe's cloud, 1 TB included; Lightroom Classic keeps files on your computer | On your computer | In Google Photos |
| Keepers go to | A new Google Photos album | Lightroom, Capture One, or XMP flags on your files | Lightroom, Photoshop, Capture One | Your Lightroom catalog | Your folders | The stack's top pick |
| Price checked | Plus, $55 a year | Select, $120 a year | Lite, $120 a year on promotion | Lightroom plan, $144 a year | Subscription, $149 a year | Free |
| Pricing detail | USD, billed annually; $6.99 billed monthly. The Best Shots review is free; saving the album needs Plus. Plus also raises the editing quota to 500 photos a month. | USD, $10 a month billed annually ($15 billed monthly). Culling only; the Edit plan is $30 a month and the full bundle $45, billed annually. 30-day free trial. | USD, $10 a month billed annually on a 30% promotion at the time of checking; $15 a month list. Higher tiers $20 to $60 a month annual. Free trial, then paid. | USD, $11.99 a month billed annually. Includes Lightroom, Lightroom Classic and 1 TB. 7-day free trial. | USD; also $14.99 billed monthly, or a $299 perpetual license with one year of updates. | Storage plans sold separately. |
| Source | batchphotoedit.com | account.aftershoot.com/pricing | narrative.so/pricing | adobe.com | home.camerabits.com | support.google.com |
How this comparison was made
Batch publishes this page. What Batch does comes from hands-on use of the product. What the other tools do and cost comes from their own websites and documentation on the date shown, not from testing them side by side. Prices change; if you spot one that has, tell us at support@batchphotoedit.com.
Sources:
- Google Photos + Batch: https://batchphotoedit.com/#pricing (checked September 15, 2026)
- Aftershoot: https://account.aftershoot.com/pricing (checked September 15, 2026)
- Narrative Select: https://narrative.so/pricing (checked September 15, 2026)
- Lightroom: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-lightroom/plans.html (checked September 15, 2026)
- Photo Mechanic: https://home.camerabits.com/get-photomechanic/ (checked September 15, 2026)
- Google Photos alone: https://support.google.com/photos/answer/14169846 (checked September 15, 2026)
Questions people ask
Do my photos get uploaded to Batch?
No. Batch has no server. Best Shots runs in your browser on the previews Google Photos already serves you. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere except an anonymous count of how many photos a run touched.
Do I need Lightroom or a desktop app?
No. You need Chrome on a computer and a Google Photos account. The keepers are saved as a normal Google Photos album you can share from your phone.
What does it cost?
Reviewing an album is free, with no limit. Saving the picks as an album is part of Batch Plus, $6.99 a month or $55 a year. Plus also raises the monthly editing quota from 25 photos to 500.
Does it work on my phone?
Not yet. Best Shots runs in Chrome on a computer. The album it makes shows up on your phone right away, because it is a Google Photos album.
"I came back from a family trip with 300+ photos and usually would have edited maybe 10 of them. Batch let me Auto Enhance the whole album first, then I only fine-tuned the favorites. Exactly the workflow I needed."
Related guides
Try it on the album you never finished sorting
Open Google Photos in Chrome, pick an album, press Best Shots. The review is free and the analysis runs on your device.
Add to ChromeFree for the review and 25 edited photos a month. No account needed.
Batch is an independent product and is not affiliated with Google, Adobe, Aftershoot, Narrative or Camera Bits. Product names belong to their owners. Prices checked September 15, 2026 and may change.